I Killed the Player of the Academy-Chapter 253 ༺ Tates Valtazar (2)༻
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[Mjolnir, the Hammer of the God of Lighting]
The hammer of lightning thundered down from above, displaying the might of a weapon worthy of being called one of the strongest mythical weapons.
“Marie…!”
<Combination Spell – Multi-layer Blood Snow Barrier>
Hearing Erin’s shout, Marie created a wall of ice to stop the lightning from the front.
– Pagagak!
But the densest of ice crumbled all too easily, and bought time for the gigantic Wickerman to scorch its sacrifice – the Elemental King. Despite being a sacrifice, the Elemental King of Fire still shot its flames as Hua Ran took a step forward to meet it head-on.
– Kwaaaah!
The blazing flames challenged her absolute defense, and even Hua Ran was pushed back by the king of elementals.
“Kuhk…!”
Each attack of the Elemental King were enough to crumble city walls and set villages ablaze but Hua Ran managed to block it, albeit taking a few steps back.
An attack that no individual human should be able to defend was withstood thanks to the most amount of aura supply the world had ever seen.
“Great job!”
While the enemy was focusing down on Hua Ran, Alicia stealthily dashed through the dark dimensions. She was a fiend – a monster of swords. Dimensional restrictions meant nothing as long as they were within her sight.
Her Eyes of Boundary allowed her to see through the gaps between the dimensions. Soon, her eyes found the true body of the Elemental King crouching within the flames of the Wickerman.
<Singular Sword of Arden – Domain Severance>
The barks of the World Tree surrounding the Wickerman were meaningless before her attack that penetrated all defense. However, there was more to it than just barks.
[ ᚱ ] — Raidho
“There is a rune inside?”
It was a trap they had prepared to counter Alicia’s Domain Severance, which was at the level of instantaneous teleportation. The moment she sliced apart the bark, a rune appeared from within to fling her away.
“Kyaaak…!”
Alicia rolled across the floor – the World Tree, to be precise – and waiting for her was an enormous snake hissing with its tongue.
– Hihit! Free food!
Dun Scaith. The one who was thousands of snakes and toads, as well as a magical bull and a dragon, all the same time – the King of Beasts pointed its venomous fangs at Alicia.
That was when a large lance of ice flew towards them. It penetrated through Dun Scaith’s mouth and went all the way through the head.
– Kihihik…! Mage!
“There’s more.”
Marie Dunareff – the great mage blessed by mana pulled out an absurd amount of mana to complete her grand spell.
<Grand Blood Magic – Pure Crimson Spear>
It was incomparably more enormous than the previous ice lance. Even Dun Scaith wasn’t confident with receiving an attack like that from the front.
“Not letting you.”
The afro-haired boxer who had crawled all the way up from death pounced at Marie.
“Gaooo…!”
“Mhmm…!”
But he was blocked by a red humanoid dog. Doggo emerged from the shadow to protect his mother and stopped Fermack’s punch.
“…I remember seeing you before my death. Pretty strong.”
“Grrrrh…”
However, Doggo’s skills and martial prowess had yet to meet its full potential due to his young age and lack of experience. Fermack neutralized Doggo for a split second with his profound understanding of bare-handed fights and was about to charge at Marie once more.
– Kwarurung…!
That was when a huge amount of mana seeped out of Doggo’s body. He used magic using the mana he had been accumulating by absorbing Marie and Korin’s blood.
“Even using magic, huh…!”
Fermack had to fall back from the burst of magic missiles, and that was when a silver spear came flying towards his back.
<Ominous Snake: Secret Arts – Distorted March>
It appeared that the disciple’s tendency to carry out surprise attacks had been taught from his master.
“That won’t do… You are still as petty as before, youngest one.”
The surprise attack that Fermack hadn’t been able to react to was deflected by Eochaid Bres’ Fragarach, the Sword of Victory.
“Rage on.”
A storm of energy gushed out from the magic sword to sweep at Erin. She had to fall back but that didn’t stop her from giving out commands.
“Estelle.”
“In the name of the lord…!”
<HOLY BURSTER
FULL OPEN IMPACT—!!>
The pink-haired Saintess struck down with her club that resulted in a shockwave that momentarily took away sound from the world.
‘S, so strong…’
The soldiers watching from a distance were appalled at the sight.
It was understandable.
Each and every one fighting was at the very top of the class, and yet there were ten of them fighting each other.
This truly was the battle of the strongest organisms in the world – a battle between the greatest powers that one would see in myths.
This was no longer in the realm of humans.
There was… no way that this could possibly be a fight between humans.
“But…”
The soldiers turned to the sky. They, the citizens of this world, looked up at the distant outer space in trepidation.
Starting far above them in the sky was a battle so otherworldly that even this battle would pale in comparison.
Light and the Sun.
The two greatest powers were in conflict.
“Korin…”
Sensing that light and heat, Erin unconsciously turned to the sky, but her mind was pulled back to the surface by a magic sword flying her way.
“Are you that concerned about them, youngest one?”
“Eochaid…!”
Erin blocked the attack with her Silver Spear as the two of them began a bout of strength. Meanwhile, Eochaid was still wearing a scoff on his face.
“Did I not tell you? Our fight here is nothing but the fight of minor characters. The real major act, the recovery of the myth will be happening there and it’s up to the two of them to end it.”
“…”
She couldn’t refute his words.
The two leaders of this generation were the two above.
Tates Valtazar and Korin Lork.
The odd intertwinement of destiny made it feel like there was a conspiracy of the world surrounding them.
“My disciple will be the one winning.”
“Huhuhu. Who knows. The man wishing for the rebirth of the world is far stronger than you can imagine.”
The two of them were certain… that their successor and their disciple would be the one leading this battle to victory.
****
“‘Player’?”
Korin froze upon hearing that word from Valtazar.
It was inevitable.
Player.
It was the way the protagonist of the game, <Heroic Legends of Arhan> was referred to.
There might be better expressions, but regardless, it was not a word that humans from this world were supposed to be aware of.
Unless of course, they knew that this world was a game.
“Wait, are you also…?”
“Of course not. I’m a pure-blood, and not an outsider like you.”
Outsider.
What Valtazar meant by that was obvious. He knew that Korin wasn’t a human of this world.
But how? How was this man aware of the player?
“Before that, you seem injured, so take this.”
Saying that, he tossed something into the air. After catching it, Korin looked down and his eyes shivered upon realizing what it was.
“…What are you trying to do?”
“I don’t want to fight against someone injured. It’ll be good for your recovery. Ah~ I guess you guys would prefer saying it brings your HP back to full.”
Korin was baffled by the fruit in his hand.
[Fruit of the World Tree]
The fact that it brought your HP and MP back to full wasn’t even the greatest trait of this item. That was nothing but a supplementary effect.
Yellow Gold Mandrake, Korean Ginseng and Fruit of the World Tree.
Each of them allowed the Aura Rank, Aura Capacity and Regeneration to rise up tremendously.
“Well, I won’t turn down the offer.”
Korin started crunching into the fruit without a sliver of hesitation.
[You have consumed the Fruit of the World Tree.]
– Your Aura Rank has increased. Aura Rank { Unique }
– Your Aura Capacity has increased significantly. { (25,130) }
– Your Aura Regeneration has increased significantly.
– Your HP is recovered to 100%
– Your Aura is recovered to 100%
– Your MP is recovered to 100%
‘Ridiculous.’
It was to be expected from one of the three elixirs of the game. The original plan was to retrieve it in the middle of the World Tree raid, but Korin was able to consume it with ease thanks to the enemy’s act of kindness.
“Are you not skeptical?” Tates asked after seeing Korin nonchalantly finish up the fruit he gave him.
Korin replied after shrugging his shoulders.
“I don’t think you would do something uncool like that.”
“Hah…! I am strange in my own right, but you’re something else as well.”
“Call me a romanticist. Anyway, tell me your story while I recover back to full.”
Tates grinned before turning around and looking at the surroundings. From tens of kilometers in the air while standing on the platform of branches that were no different from ground, he gazed down at the world.
“A fantastic view, is it not? A great place to signal the rebirth of a mythology.”
“Stop saying things only you understand and explain yourself.”
“Well, there’s not that much to it. The <Heroic Legends of Arhan> you guys know was like a filtration.”
“…”
As if it was nothing significant, he casually revealed the truth of this world.
“The world made a ‘bet’ with me. ‘If thou art worthy of destroying the world, thee must confront the one who could save the world and emerge victorious.’ That was the qualification required to become the god ruling over the new world.”
Heroic Legends of Arhan was a ‘Hero Selection System’ that had been made for that purpose.
The ones that could clear with the most efficient and highest score was to be chosen as the contender.
“I was forced to have a battle worthy of being the beginning of a new era.”
“Fuck… I’m not following this crap.”
Was he saying <Heroic Legends of Arhan> hadn’t been a game all along?
A filter to choose the worthy players?
“Wait, didn’t you say ‘you guys’?”
“Exactly. Perhaps we should call them ‘Park Sihus’. Certainly, when they acquired the destiny of a player and monopolized all the hidden pieces and miraculous encounters, they were absurdly powerful but…”
Thinking about the past, Tates couldn’t conceal the look of disappointment in his eyes.
“Each and every one of them were weak. Well, I guess that can’t be helped. What would you expect from kids that suddenly dropped into another world and were easily given power, that only knew how to blindly follow their given destiny?”
With a smirk on his face, Valtazar revealed a shocking truth.
“Those that easily acquire their strength are not qualified. The 99th Park Sihu was even more ridiculous… but he was probably still one of the decent ones.”
“Wait…”
“Yes. I’m referring to the first iteration, when you just arrived. To me, that was the 99th Park Sihu.”
Sihu… Sihu from the last iteration was the 99th Park Sihu? Does that mean…
“Did you… know everything from the future?”
On the day when Erin Danua was supposed to be killed, Tates Valtazar did not show himself during the Academy Destruction event.
There were traps and ways to counter his first ‘Precept’, but he avoided it altogether.
What about the Frost Giant? He, who shouldn’t have appeared, showed himself much earlier than scheduled.
Even apart from that, there were a lot of mysterious things about his actions. For example, Valtazar didn’t kill Miruam despite her betraying him.
He, who was trying to destroy the world, who should be looking for the most efficient path every time… had never taken the efficient route.
“So the reason you didn’t show up during the Academy destruction…”
“I had been intentionally falling into the trap ‘until now’, but I wanted to fight you, Korin Lork, with everything I had in my arsenal.”
He casually dropped a remark that even falling into the trap was nothing but a part of the process.
Korin felt immensely pressured from that statement.
99 players. 99 apocalypses.
Despite repeating the same fate 99 times, despite being fully aware of the strategies of the player and their tricks, he intentionally fell into the trap…
And yet this man… was here after coming out victorious 99 times.
And here he was confronting the 100th player.
“But all of that comes to an end today. Lia Fail has acknowledged you as my contender and not the minor character you used to be. As long as I defeat you, that will put an end to this long and arduous war.”
“…You are overestimating me. Park Sihu from the last iteration was much stronger than me.”
“There is no way you do not understand how ‘futile’ that kind of strength is. Look at yourself – has there been anyone weaker than yourself among everyone you have fought?”
Marie Dunareff.
Hua Ran.
Fermack Daman.
Dun Scaith.
………
………
………
Yeah, there were tons of people that were stronger than me, but none of them was able to beat me.
Being strong was different from winning.
“But even if I lose… you will fail,” said Korin. “There is no way you can beat everyone that I brought here by yourself—”
“Let me correct your misunderstanding. Destroying this world is something I can handle by myself.”
“…”
“Why do you think the world bothered to strike a deal with me? Why do you think it tried to bring a ‘hero’ from the outside to fight me? It’s because this world had no-one that can fight against the ‘demon lord’.”
“Fuck. Okay. Good for you.”
Korin acknowledged it.
Numbers and strength were meaningless. This man was ‘different’. In the first place, the fact that he was able to erase light from the entire world revealed how unorthodox he was.
Plants couldn’t grow without light, and the absence of plants would bring about starvation from all around the globe.
As long as he wanted to, it would be that simple to kill the world of starvation.
“There are plenty of ways to end the world, but simply ending it isn’t enough to revive the era of mythology.”
“You need a fight impressive enough for the world to acknowledge, huh.”
“That is exactly right, my nemesis.”
“Haa…”
The truth was more absurd than anything he had expected.
‘So basically this guy needs to be swag whether he wins or not, huh.’
Korin wondered if he was any different from him.
“Hey… so if you win this time, is the world really going to end?”
“Well, that would be the case from your standpoint.”
“…That’s quite the pressure.”
The destiny of the world was on his shoulders. Unlike the previous 99 Park Sihus, he wasn’t allowed a single failure.
It was too heavy a pressure to bear for a side character like Korin Lork, a sub-player who couldn’t even become a full-fledged player until the end.
“In the end, that doesn’t change anything though. Everything will be fine as long as I beat you here, right?”
“Indeed. The conclusion is the same. All you have to do is beat me.”
There was neither fury nor hatred in Valtazar’s eyes. Naturally, there was no such thing as fear either.
Instead, there was friendliness and joy as if he had finally met a friend.
However, Korin knew that unlike what was being conveyed by his eyes, that there was extreme violence hiding in Tates Valtazar’s heart.
Unexpectedly though, Korin Lork was a similar kind. They were both people who could attempt to kill one another with a smile.
That was how similar the two of them were.
“It’s time to start.”
[System Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.]
Demon Lord Tates Valtazar: Relativity EX
[System Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.]
Hero Korin Lork: Relativity EX
They both picked up their spears.
At this point, precepts and whatnot were meaningless. Magic, hidden pieces and others were nothing but minor ingredients of the fight.
With the fate of the world hanging on their spears,
They marched at their enemy.
““Let’s fight.””
